'Yogi Ji wants me killed': SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar alleges attempt on life

Lucknow, Feb 15: Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Omprakash Rajbhar has claimed that he was attacked during filing of nomination of party candidate Arvind Rajbhar from Varanasi's Shivpur constituency yesterday.

"Yogi Ji wants to get me killed. Goons of BJP and Yogi were sent there in black coats," Om Prakash Rajbhar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Further, Rajbhar demanded the Election Commission to provide security to both of them.

"I demand the Election Commission of India to provide security to me and Arvind Rajbhar," he further said.

In the last state assembly polls, Rajbhar was an alliance partner of the BJP and his party had won four seats then. Rajbhar himself was elected from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district and was made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. He, however, had quit the Cabinet in 2019 and broken ties with the saffron party.

The separation of Rajbhar, Maurya and Chauhan has dented the saffron party's support among numerically significant non-Yadav, "Other Backward Class" people in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

At present, he is supporting Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi party for 2022 assembly elections.

Earlier on October 9, Yadav had expressed confidence about winning the polls in Uttar Pradesh and said that the people of the state were disappointed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.